Communication media such as optical media have historically been fragile and susceptible to significant signal transmission loss when the media is bent, pinched, twisted, or subjected to environmental factors such as heat, moisture, etc. Accordingly, communication systems have generally been designed with these drawbacks in mind, minimizing sharp bends or exposure to environmental factors.
In recent years many significant advances have been made in the durability of these communication media. For example, various types of bend-insensitive fibers that are capable of low transmission losses even when severely bent or pinched are now employed in communication systems. Accordingly, the durability of communication systems is correspondingly greater as compared with previous systems that relied upon fibers or media that is more sensitive to bending.
Now that communication media can resist further bending without significant signal degradation, it is difficult to determine when the communication media are experiencing significant stress in the field short of total signal loss. Often the first indication that a communication media is under increasing duress is a total loss of the signal upon breakage of the media. By comparison, bend-sensitive fibers generally provide a more gradual attenuation in the transmitted signal that can be more easily detected by system monitors before any significant damage to the media occurs.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system stress monitoring system and method that maintains the durability benefits of bend-insensitive fiber while providing an indication of stress issues in the media prior to complete failure or breakage of the media.